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EQAO results show slight increases for BWDSB students

Results of 2016-17 Education Quality and Accountability Office tests show a slight increase in most areas for Bluewater District School Board students.

“We are pleased and encouraged by Bluewater’s improvements in almost every area of the latest EQAO assessments,” said superintendent of education Paul Hambleton.

“For the past several years, we have been experiencing an overall upward trend in our results. While we closely align with the provincial average in many areas, we are firmly committed to continuing our hard work to ensure that we increase the rates of success and narrow existing gaps across all grade levels in mathematics and literacy.”

The number of Bluewater students in Grade 3 who met or exceeded the provincial standard was higher in each area of the assessment.

Grade 3 reading results improved by four percentage points over last year to 66 per cent, compared with the provincial average of 74 per cent, while primary writing results rose to 65 per cent, with the provincial average at 73 per cent.

Mathematics achievement results improved by four percentage points to 57 per cent compared with the provincial average of 62 per cent.

In Grade 6, reading achievement results improved by one percentage point to 75 per cent, compared with the provincial average of 81 per cent. Junior writing results decreased slightly to 69 per cent compared to a provincial average of 79 per cent, and mathematics results rose by two percentage points to 37 per cent compared to provincial average of 50 percent.

The Grade 9 academic mathematics achievement results remained strong at 79 per cent, up one percentage point over last year, but still below the 83 per cent provincial average. Grade 9 applied mathematics results improved slightly to 50 per cent once again surpassing the provincial average of 44 per cent.

The Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) achievement results also reflected a significant improvement at 78 per cent, up by 4 percentage points over the previous year. That compares with provincial average of 81 per cent.

Bluewater’s five-year graduation rate has also continued to steadily increase since the early 2000s. The latest rate closely aligns with the provincial rate of 83.8 per cent.

At the Grey Catholic District School board superintendent of education Mike Bethune said the overall results show consistent improvement over the years.

“We look at these results not with disappointment but as a starting point to move forward and drive all of our targeted work and all of our professional development,” said Bethune.

The Grade 3 reading results were 74 per cent, the same as the provincial average, while the writing achievement rate was 78 per cent, which is higher than the provincial average of 73 per cent. Students were at 60 per cent in mathematics, slightly lower than the provincial average of 62 per cent).

For Grade 6, reading was 82 per cent, higher than the provincial average of 81 per cent) while writing was 77 per cent (provincial average 79 per cent and mathematics, 54 per cent (provincial average, 50 per cent).

In Grade 9, the applied mathematics result was 38 per cent (provincial average 44 per cent) and the academic mathematics achievement rate was 80 per cent (provincial average 83 percent).

Of the first time eligible students who fully participated in the Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, 74 per cent were successful. The provincial average is 81 per cent.

Catholic board director of education Jamie McKinnon said in a media release “there are many ways we measure the success of our Catholic schools and EQAO is one of them. We will continue to use this and other data to meet the needs of our students through targeted support and quality instruction.”

Recently Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that standardized testing itself needs to be reassessed, a new curriculum emphasizing such things as “global citizenship” is on the way, and there’ll be new report cards for the 2018-19 school year. Results can be viewed at www.eqao.com.